and president assad staying in power, could use such chemical weapons against his own people. from the defense secretary on down, the world be reacted to the news today. we begin with our chief foreign correspondent affairs, andrea mitchell. >> reporter: they warned today that the chemical threat is imminent, from a syrian regime that seems to be losing control. >> reporter: with the war turning against the syrian regime, fears rose of a nightmare scenario that once cornered the desperate bashar al-assad, may use chemical weapons against the world or against his own people. >> the whole world is watching, the whole world is watching very closely. and the president of the united states has made very clear that there will be consequences. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence as first reported by nbc news indicates that syria's military has loaded the precursor bombs, even a tiny bomb can attack the nervous system, killing within seconds or minutes, most of syria's sophisticated weapons are from russia, syria's most powerful ally. but today, they were so alarmed about the chemical thre